


New Baptism

by brightnail



Series: Gods of Hockey [5]
Category: American Gods - Neil Gaiman, Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M, cossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-29
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-08 14:36:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11648625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightnail/pseuds/brightnail
Summary: Not even gods get it right 100 percent of the time.





	New Baptism

When Sidney responded to the desperate prayer for help, he was actually the second god to arrive on the scene. There was a little boy trapped under the freezing water of the lake, and Tyler Sequin had already dived into the lake after him.

Sidney watched in interest as the cold water started to heat up, from where it touched the god of hockey impulse and passion. When Tyler reached back for the surface, he didn’t bother trying to find the hole that the boy had fallen through. Instead, he reached his hand above him and melted through the solid ice. He pushed the boy up and then heaved himself up after him.

The boy’s friends were at his side in a moment, clearly fearful for their friend, but also comforted by the presence of a god having fished him out. Tyler reached forward to touch the boy’s face, but then jerked his hand back at the last minute, staring at his own hand in horror, no doubt realizing that he would have burned the child with his dominion reacting in such a physical way at the moment.

Sidney didn’t make him wait to figure out how to help the boy. Instead, he stepped forward and dropped to his knees on the other side of the boy’s body, across from Tyler. Tyler looked so incredibly relieved to see him there. Sidney offered him a kind smile and then reached forward, laying his hand on the child’s chest, over his lungs. Sidney sent his power into the boy, expelling the water from his chest, regulating his body temperature, and fighting off the early signs of pneumonia and hypothermia that were just starting to set in.

The boy coughed a few times, and then sat up with Sidney’s help. “It’s all right now.” Sidney soothed as the boy started to sniffle and cry quietly. Tyler looked like his heart was breaking from holding himself back from hugging the child, even though he was no longer steaming and was obviously safe to touch. With that in mind, Sidney told the boy, “When you fell in, the god Tyler went in and brought you out, so I could heal you.”

The boy continued to cry and actually moved further away from Tyler. “M-my m-m-mom always said I shouldn’t pray to him.” The boy pointed at Tyler. “She said you shouldn’t pray to a god of impulse.”

Tyler definitely looked like his heart was breaking now.

“Well, she doesn’t understand what a god of impulse is for then.” Sidney said firmly. He usually wouldn’t say anything against a child’s parents, but he wasn’t going to let this go at Tyler’s expense.

“What do you mean?” Sidney clearly had the attention of the boy, his friends, and Tyler himself.

“When you went into the water, what did the god Tyler do?” Sidney asked. “He dove right in after you, no planning, no thought, just the impulsive need to protect you and help you. And that is only part of Tyler’s power. He is the god of Impulse and Passion – Impulse, to give the first needed surge of energy to get something started, and passion to see it though. Hockey is a lot of hard work, and winning takes a lot of quick thinking and changing plans on the fly. I think any hockey player would be lucky to have a god of impulse and passion on their side.”

The little boys were nodding seriously, obviously taking his words to heart.

Tyler had tears in his eyes but a brilliant, blinding smile on his face.

“Just something to think about,” Sidney said, “but you should get home and change into some dry clothes.”

The little boy nodded and gave Sidney a hug, he then turned around and gave Tyler a hug as well, before hurrying off with his friends. When he was at the edge of the lake, he turned back to Tyler. “My name’s Dillon and I’m going to pray to you before my next game Tyler, so listen for me!”

Tyler laughed, delighted. “I will!” He shouted back.

Sidney got up from the ground and patted the snow off of his pants, thinking he would need a change of clothes after this as well.

“Do you really think that?” Tyler asked Sidney.

Sidney looked at Tyler’s hopeful eyes. How many other parents had warned their children not to pray to a god of impulse? How many other goes agreed with them? “Of course I do.” Sidney responded.

“Even though the reason they were skating on the thin ice was because of me?”

“How was it because of you?” Sidney wondered.

“They planned to race, but one of the boys was scared that the ice was too thin. I stoked his passion so he wouldn’t be afraid anymore.”

“And did you do that with the hopes that one of them would fall in?” Sidney asked.

“Great One, No!” Tyler said, horrified, “I just wanted them to have fun and I didn’t want any of them to be afraid. I just helped to calm their fears, not take away all their common sense.”

“Well, there you go. You answered your own questions. Don’t read your own press,” Sidney advised, “They were skating on thin ice because they are little boys who love hockey and love to complete against each other. You being a god of impulse just meant that you were called here due to their impulsive actions, and then you were able to intervene in time to help them.”

“You would have saved him anyway.” Tyler countered.

“You don’t know that.” Sidney disagreed. “The point is, we each have our own powers, our own skills. No one of us, even the Great One, is all powerful. If I’ve learned anything from that mess with Bettman and Cherry, it’s that we work best when we work together. And it’s okay to need a reminder of that every now and then.”

Tyler smiled, “You’re a good guy Sid.”

“You are too Ty. Remember that.”


End file.
